Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Hogwarts: Tuesday, September 1st, 1953 [Private]

The sun had barely touched Alphard's face when he ripped himself from sleep.

Defense Against the Dark Arts. His stomach was less enthuisastic. No, wait, breakfast.

Alphard was of a unique mind. He was not particularly excited about the year of school life ahead of him, so much as his curriculum. He felt it considerable luck that he got to start off his semester with a bang; it was well known that sixth year Defense Against the Dark Arts students learned nonverbal spellcasting. He was so eager to learn nonverbal magic that, the day before, he asked a seventh year at his house table for tips.
~~
Professor Dippet had just reminded the students that the Forest on school grounds was off-limits, and given some announcements by way of Apollyon Pringle, the school caretaker. Pudding appeared in front of him. He turned to an older boy whose name he hadn't really bothered to keep some place safe in his mind.

"What can you tell me about nonverbal magic? Will I find anything in the library to give myself a head start?"

The boy --Jerry!-- appeared startled by the prompt. Any bother on his face as he replaced his spoon on the table quickly disappeared. "You're a sixth year? Don't worry about it too much. You've got a long time to learn it all. It's one of the main focuses in DADA. Professor Emriti is better than any book on the subject. Hogwarts will be hard pressed to find a replacement when he retires."

He had better be right. Alphard had thought. Emriti had always been a fantastic Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, to be sure, but he hoped to be given a few pointers.
~~
This morning, back at the Ravenclaw table, Alphard knew that a trip to the library would be a fool's hope. He was assured he would have an easier schedule than last year, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was right after breakfast. His stomach growled.

Right. Breakfast. His mind must have wandered - and not for the first time this morning - back to that classroom on the 3rd floor. How silly am I to ignore this food? He wrapped a robust sausage in a piece of toast and hurried it to his mouth. Grease tickled his chin as he chewed, the only outward indicator to the explosion of flavor on his palate. He ate his last bit and immediately went for seconds. One thing about the school life that he did miss was this food.

He dabbed the grease from his scratchy, stubbled chin. He never shaved, but his hair didn't seem to grow beyond not-quite-5-o'clock shadow. He called it 3 o'clock shadow and assured himself that it probably looked good. At any rate, it gave his otherwise plain face a distinguishing feature. Standing up, he brushed the few toast crumbs from the lapel of his wrinkled robes. He joined the traffic of students heading towards their classes; he noticed that some Gryffindors and Slytherins seemed to be heading in the same direction as he and his fellow Ravenclaw sixth years. Would he be sharing a classroom with the Gryffindors? No, they're too young. Must be Slytherin. He walked into classroom 3C and took a seat at an empty table in the second row. Professor Emriti was already in the classroom, waiting to begin. He sat at attention, not paying mind to the seats being filled all around him. The room indeed seemed to be nearly full, now, based on the encompassing buzz. Emriti cleared his throat.

"Good morning. There are very few empty seats. That's good. I'm glad to see so many of you continuing on this year. You may have all done well on your OWLs, but this is a NEWT level class and as such, you will be learning magic that is magnitudes more complex. I'll be happy to take a few questions about the year ahead, but I'd also like to get into a bit of revision this morning. So - any questions?"

Alphard's hand was the first hand in the air, but it was quickly joined by a few others. "Mr. Selwyn?"

"Professor, will we be starting on nonverbal magic today?" Professor Emriti chuckled.

"No, not today, I don't think. Soon, though. Funny, most of the questions I get from sixth years are about the unforgivable curses. Which, by the way, we will be getting to after Christmas break. Today, Mr. Selwyn, we will be revisiting stunning spells and disarmimg charms. You will work in pairs. Mr. Selwyn, you may work with Ms. Witte." Emriti nodded to the seat to Alphard's left.

Alphard had been so intent upon the class that he thought the seat empty, but when he glanced over, his eyes fell upon a rather small, severe looking witch with dark hair and pristine robes.

Well it looks like I'll have time to hit the library anyway.

Anita was awake before most of her fellow Slytherins to begin her meticulous morning routine. Her hair was very carefully combed into place, nails filed, and uniform dutifully cleaned of black cat hair. By the time she had finished, many other students were only just struggling out of bed, complaining about the first day of school. Anita wasn't worried - the first week was always insultingly easy. Every year teachers would devote time laying out their lesson plans, and revising the prior year's work.

When a couple of her girlfriends had finally woken up, Anita went with them to the Great Hall for the first breakfast of the term. She busied herself with toast, beans, eggs and milk tea, while the girls around her chatted noisily. Every so often, she'd have to duck as a few low flying owls brought mail to the first-year students. She idly remembered that her first lesson for the day was DADA - not one of her best, but one she was determined to do well in.

~~~

"Hello Professor," Anita said in a singsong voice and polite a wave as she entered the classroom. "Morning Miss Witte," Professor Emriti replied with his usual good charm. There was no harm in being polite - especially on the first day. However, from the corner of her vision, she caught a glimpse of her friend rolling her eyes.

She sat beside a Ravenclaw boy, who she'd seen in the hall many times, but never actually spoken to before. As the last students filed in, Anita readied her book and quill - and sat with her back completely straight and hands clasped in her lap.

The class began - and as she expected they were to be reviewing last year's material. She did learn that the Ravenclaw boy was named 'Selwyn'. 'Probably a pure-blood' she thought to herself. Just moments later, Emriti placed her in a pair with him. If he was indeed a pureblood, Anita was determined to outdo him. She met hig gaze, her face completely blank for a moment before a wry smile spread across it.

"Anita, could you please show us the hand movement for the Expelliarmus spell," Emitri turned to her suddenly. She stood, straightened her skirt and held her wand elegantly, and in a slow motion brought her wand downwards with a flick at the end, turning to glance at the Ravenclaw to see if he was impressed.

"You could do with a less showing off, but in essence you are correct." Anita pouted slightly as she sat down. Emitri continued, "bring the wand downwards with a quick flick at the end," the professor expertly repeated the motion - red lights formed around his arm and suddenly shot out above the student's heads - knocking over a marble bust against the far wall. "Now I want you to pair off and practice a few times to scrape the two months worth of dust off your memory."

Professor Emriti asked the small witch to demonstrate the disarming spell, and she performed a serviceable spell.

Performed is right.

He supposed they may as well get to work. He walked to a pile of cushions and grabbed two, and glanced back at Anita with his eyebrows raised.

"Erm, shall we begin?"

Anita watched her partner gather up the cushions. She approached him, took one and moved to the opposite side of the classroom. She wanted to see exactly what he was capable of. Since he was still studying Defence against the Dark Arts in 6th year, he was probably not a pushover.

"You go first," she called out to him, placing the pillow on the ground.

Alphard took his place in front of his cushion. Anita had told him to go first, and she appeared to be studying him.

I suppose she's in the dueling club.

"Wands raised," he said, obliging himself, "I'm going to perform the stunning curse."

"Stupefy!" Red light shot out of his wand.

She stood with her wand poised and ready, bracing herself for the impact with his spell. The moment the light hit her chest, she felt her entire body go numb and she crumpled onto the cushion.

Slowly, the feeling returned to her body, and she staggered back to her feet, picking up her wand and brushing a few loose strands of hair from her face. 'Selwyn' was no pushover - good wand control and perfect aim. She took a deep breath, to try and calm her still shaky body from the effects of the spell.

"My turn," she stepped back, "raise your wand, I am going to perform the stunning curse." She paused, running the wand movement through her mind once more, "Stupefy," she cried out, sending a bolt of red magic towards her partner.

Now if only I could do that wandlessly. Sigh. Counter-curse.

"Ennervate." Alphard mumbled, and he waited as Anita slowly pulled herself off the cushion. Her hair was a little frazzled from the landing. It made for look that was plainly peculiar for her, even to Alphard, who didn't know her very well. She fixed her hair and after a few moments raised her wand.

"My turn," Anita said. He didn't hear what she said next because he was busy trying to cast a shield charm.

Protego! It turns out nonverbal spells aren't that simple. Everything went black.

When he came to, he realized he had overshot the cushion a little.

Guess that shield charm didn't work... He said, rubbing the back of his head and as he stood up.

"Well casted," he said. And it was. "we... clearly can both stun proficiently. Disarming, then?"

There might have been the slightest grin of satisfaction on her face. She didn't mean to hurt him, but it seems she caught him off guard.

"Are you okay," she said, closing the gap between them although her smug face made it obvious there was no sincerity behind her words. "Sounded like you hit the ground hard. You don't need to sit down for a moment, do you?"

There was a hint of pride in her voice.

I didn't even realize she was casting. he thought. My own fault I guess.

He raised his wand. "I'm quite alright. Like I said though. Let's just work on disarming. I've got some experience deflecting, so you go first."

With a nod, Anita returned to her position across the classroom. "Raise your wand," she recited again. She made the same movement with her wand as she'd performed in front of the class. However, the moment she said the word 'Expelliarmus' she knew something had gone wrong.

Maybe it was one of the useless flourishes she added to the movement of her wand. Maybe her wand had a mind of her own and wanted to send a message for her needless competition and rudeness to her training partner. The red magic gathered around her hand and then arced unnaturally across the classroom, knocking books and quills off the desks before dissipating.

Anita's cheeks flushed red, out of both embarrassment and rage as she felt everybody's eyes upon her.

Alphard look down at his wand. It was still in his hand. He hadn't performed any defensive magic. He didn't need to.

He looked around the room. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and were looking in his direction.

Wait. They're not looking at me. He directed his own attention to Anita, who was beet-red. He supposed he should feel sorry for her, but he was a little amused. He turned back around to Professor Emriti who had not failed to notice the sudden quiet.

"Sorry Professor. I didn't think of the consequences to deflecting that spell. I'll just pick up my wand off the floor next time."

He turned back to Anita and shrugged. "My turn, then?"

Anita frowned - not quite sure of what to think of Selwyn's claim. She knew he hadn't cast any defensive spell. On one hand, she was glad that her classmate's eyes were no longer on her. On the other, she was humiliated even further that he took the blame for the incident. Did he think he was better than her?

She sighed. It wasn't worth getting angry over. She gathered up some of the books she knocked off the tables, avoiding eye contact with the others before stepping into place once more.

"Ready."

Why does she look beaten? I just helped her. Alphard considered inquiring, but he felt as though he'd had enough social interaction for a day. He continued on with the assigned spell work until class was dismissed.

Transfiguration was much of the same; it seemed that much of his first week would be review. Alphard spent his afternoon in the library, looking for books on the subject of nonverbal magic. He came across a few historical texts that highlighted the method entering the mainstream, but not much on the methodology itself.

Over the next two days, he spent all of his free time in the library, looking for more books. That's where he found himself on Wednesday evening, reading a book about Animagi.

The class finished without further incident and the students dispersed. Her next class that day was Potions. Her embarrassment in Defence Against the Dark Arts still stung and she kept a cold and quiet disposition for the entire lesson. As days passed she fell back into her usual school routine. Things were easy so far, with most teachers focusing on revision and introductory basics, but she'd heard far too many times that the 6th year was when things really started to get difficult.

That Wednesday she had taken to the library to attempt to memories the new runes they had just studied. She glanced up and down the tables looking for a quiet spot to study. A few first years were chattering loudly, and an older student had fallen asleep at his work desk. Finally, her eyes landed on a boy - that was 'Selwyn', wasn't it? Since they were likely to be working together from now on, she thought it would be best to at least introduce herself to him.

She approached him with silent footsteps. "Hello," she says while still behind his back. "Mind if I sit there," she motions to the chair opposite him.

Lost in his book, Alphard jumped.

"Hello," he turned to find the girl who had partnered with in Defense Against the Dark arts, "Mind if I sit there?" she indicated the seat opposite him. He nodded.

"It's Witte, right? Are you a good potioneer?"

"Anita," she corrected him as she slid in across from him, opening her thick textbook on the table. She had not yet had potions this year, so she replied with a slight shrug. "I'd say I'm about average. It's not a favourite class of mine."

"Right. Anita. I suppose the class your head of house teaches is never fun. Slughorn is very genial, though."

He bristled at the expectations he faced in Charms. "At least we don't have to deal with Dumbledore. He seems so gruff."

"Oh, I really like him," she replied in reference to Slughorn. "He's always a pleasure to talk to, but he runs a tight ship. I have to sit straighter in his classes than any other because it feels like he's always watching you." Her current posture was completely rigid with her hands clasped in her lap. It was hard to believe she could be any straighter.

"So," she added after a slight pause. "Do you have a name or is it just 'Selwyn'? ... I guess you must be a pure-blood." It was too straight forward - it sounded too much like your average lineage-revering Slytherin, but Anita's reason for asking was very different.

Alphard flushed. "Right, it's Alphard. Sorry, I'm a bit absent-minded at the best of times." His mind, he had to admit to himself, was still a little on his book."

"Yeah, I'm a pureblood. My parents both work at the ministry. You?"

"Oh," she looked away slightly. She had hoped he wouldn't ask - but with a name like 'Witte' it was obvious, wasn't it? "I'm a Mudblood," she said choosing to use the slur for her kind. "My father's a surgeon. Just the normal, muggle kind."